Page 86 of The Mayor and the Mystery Man

I snorted. Leave it to Dusty to bring sass to a zombie apocalypse.

“Do you want anything, Dad?” Ari asked, holding up his thin paintbrush.

“I’ll pass. I am proud to be a bloodless survivor for this run.” I was still in campaign mode, and I didn’t want to show up to the 5k covered in fake blood, lest someone find offense or worse—think I was actually injured. Sometimes, I wished I could turn that part of my brain off and live.

Lucy and Ari wrapped up preparing Dusty, who looked somewhere between human and zombie when they were finished. My heart lifted watching them together. Dusty was a natural and would make a seamless transition from fun uncle to fun stepdad.

I tried to shake the thought out of my head, but I always had my eye on a five-year plan. I let myself relish in its potential a few seconds more.

“Do I look scary enough?” Dusty had streaks of fake blood on his cheeks, and his body looked great in his blood-splattered T-shirt. The red made the blue of his eyes pop, the white of his teeth. I could stare at him all day.

“I’m terrified that this fake blood won’t be able to come out in the wash.” I ran a finger down a patch on his back before noticing that this was my shirt.

“I don’t mind. I’ll continue to wear it on our runs, and if people see me, I can give some story like I was attacked by a bear or saved a bus of nuns from a burning building.”

“Ha! I doubt that. Do you remember when you tried to put out that trashcan fire by pouring vodka on it?”

“I thought it was water!”

One thing was for sure. There’d never be a dull moment with Dusty.

“We have to get going.” I nodded toward the door and made my way there.

“Wait. We should get a picture of you guys,” Lucy said. She took out her phone, as did Ari. They were glued to their hands.

Dusty hopped up and stood at my side.

“Should we hold our hands out?” I asked.

“No. You’re not zombies.” Ari gave me that are you serious eyeroll that was very prevalent in teenagers.

“What if I pretended to bite your neck?” I asked, getting into the spirit of the race and Halloween. It was never my holiday, but seeing their excitement spurred me on.

“You’re zombies, not vampires,” she said. Another eyeroll. They were brutal.

“Man, you will use any excuse to give me a hickey,” Dusty said quietly between us. He leaned in closer. “Be a gentleman and save the biting for my inner thighs.”

I steeled myself against getting turned on. The last thing I needed was photographic evidence of sprouting wood in my shorts.

“Get closer,” Lucy said. Spoken like a true filmmaker.

I put my arm around Dusty and pulled him close. We’d done this so many times, taken so many pictures at events, posed for so many voters. But this time felt more intimate. His warmth made me glow from the inside.

“Smile!”

Dusty rested his head on my shoulder, and that nearly killed me.

“Perfect,” Lucy said. She and Ari looked at the pictures on her phone. “You guys are so cute.”

“Looking good, Dad! Looking good, Uncle Dusty.”

“Kids.” Kids? Man, I sounded like such a dad sometimes. “I want to talk to you about something for a second.”

I held Dusty’s hand as I told them Dusty was sticking around, and we were becoming more than friends. So much more than friends. I explained that we were dating, though I knew that was only a formality. I was already spending my life with Dusty at my side, one way or another.

The twins shared a silent cosmic expression, then turned to us with approving grins.

“Cool,” Ari said.

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